The Role of Social Networks in Facilitating Personal Trust
Noah Webster, Kristine Ajrouch, Toni Antonucci

TL;DR
This study explores how personal social networks influence trust in others within the U.S., focusing on older adults and showing that close relationships can boost societal trust.
Contribution
The study integrates social capital perspectives to show how network structure affects macro-level personal trust in older adults.
Findings
Larger inner circles and more friends in social networks are linked to higher trust in others.
Trust is significantly clustered within close social networks (intra-class correlation = 0.21).
Fostering non-family close ties may enhance societal-wide trust among older adults.
Abstract
Trust is a core component of social cohesion and a strong predictor of older adults’ well-being. Most research on trust focuses on others who are geographically proximate, with less focus on those in one’s country more generally, i.e., macro-level personal trust. Larger-scale trust is critical for maintaining social norms, ensuring effective institutions, and civic engagement. In this study, we integrate two perspectives on social capital by examining the association between social network structure (e.g., size, composition) and trust of ‘people in the U.S.’ and the extent that trust clusters within close social networks. Data are from adults age 60 and older from Wave 3 of the Detroit-based Social Relations Study collected in 2015 (n = 303). Respondents identified social network members based on varying levels of closeness and provided characteristics on up to the first 10 people…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSocial Capital and Networks · Health disparities and outcomes · Mental Health Research Topics
